NFL Kickoff Weekend Most-Watched Ever, More Than 105 Million Viewers Tune In For Sixth Straight Year

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Sixth Consecutive Kickoff Weekend: More Than 105 Million Viewers Tune In

Kickoff Weekend Games 3 of 10 Most-Watched Telecasts Since

Super Bowl XLIX

NFL Games Top Ratings in 29 of 30 NFL Markets

The NFL got Back to Football in exciting and record-breaking fashion. With an average of 19.9 million viewers for NFL games (Sept. 10-14), 2015 was the most-watched NFL Kickoff Weekend ever, topping the average 19.6 million viewers for 2013’s Kickoff Weekend.

For the sixth consecutive year, more than 105M viewers watched Kickoff Weekend games on CBS, ESPN, FOX and NBC.

NBC’s Thursday Kickoff game, which featured the Super Bowl XLIX champion New England Patriots hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers, was the most-watched show of the week and the second-most watched Kickoff game ever, averaging 27.4M viewers.

The New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys matchup on NBC’s Sunday Night Football was the second-most watched show of the week (26.8M viewers) and the second most-watched Sunday Night Football opener ever. Two additional NFL telecasts topped 20 million viewers – CBS Sunday National (mostly Ravens-Broncos, 23.3M viewers) and the Fox Sunday Single (mostly Packers-Bears, 20.1M viewers).

In addition, NFL Kickoff Weekend games were three of the top 10 most-watched telecasts among all television programs since Super Bowl Sunday including awards shows, such as the Academy Awards, and Presidential Debates.

Locally, NFL games topped the ratings in 29 NFL markets:

Program

# of NFL Markets Ranked #1

NFL Football

29

College Football (VA Tech-Ohio State)

1

The following is the list of the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the “broadcast week” of Sept.7-13: